BEST PLACE TO PEOPLE-WATCH Minneapolis 2005 - State Fairgrounds

All of Minnesota gets funneled through this section of Dan Patch Avenue during the Great Minnesota Get-Together. The teenage lovebirds-for-a-day head to the Midway with a corndog in one hand and the fingertips of their Magnum P.I.-ride partner in the other. A stream of sweaty concertgoers leaves the Lynyrd Skynyrd concert (this year it's Mötley Crüe) determined to make their way to the Beer Garden through the huddled and glutted masses. Urban-chic parents pushing strollers or wagons overflowing with zonked-out kids quibble over the price of fried green tomatoes or where they parked the car. And you just might see a teenage dude wearing a rebel flag T-shirt and cut-off jeans shorts that makes you realize all of America is swathed in the same red-and-blue quilt. If the surrounding chatter isn't too muffled by the sounds of your own teeth chomping on a buttery ear of corn, listen closely and you just might hear some of the strangest and most beautiful conversations to be had this side of the Mason Dixon.